A copper wire cable can hold in multiple mutually-insulated copper wires. When those copper wires get wet, at one end of the cable, they can cause performance problems due to leakage and shorts from one wire to another and/or from any of the wet wires to ground. In telecommunication applications, cables are sometimes difficult to reach and, when wet, cannot be readily dried-out. For example, these cables can be used in underground man-holes which are small spaces with challenging configurations and underground wet cables need to be completely dried-out before service can be fully restored.
Furthermore, inside the outer protective layer of the cable, the mutually-insulated copper wires are also sometimes wrapped in paper sheaths. Paper sheath can absorb water like a sponge and draw it further back into the cable. Although the cable exterior covering can be stripped away up to a certain length (up to the cable choke) whereupon that length of individual mutually-insulated conductors in the cable can be exposed to dry them out, the wet paper sheaths that extend inside the cable beyond the choke under the protective exterior covering of the cable also need to be dried-out. This is difficult to do with conventional air blower techniques. In addition to this specific problem, there are other conditions under which a “rats nest” of copper-wire communication cables can get wet and for which a heated air flow cannot penetrate effectively to dry all wet surfaces. Thus, there is a need for applying heated air to dry-out wet surfaces of conductive copper cable that are hard to reach. Applicant's embodiments satisfy this need.